Feinstein attempts to protect Hillary from damaging Benghazi report

Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein is trying to protect former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from new revelations on Benghazi that could complicate her possible 2016 run for president.

The Senate Intelligence Committee — chaired by Feinstein — on Wednesday released a report that said the 2012 Benghazi attacks that killed U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans could have been prevented.

But on Thursday, Feinstein said the reports do not blame Clinton, whose State Department is ultimately responsible for the security of its diplomats.

As for whether the report “assigns culpability to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for the tragedy,” Feinstein said, “This is patently false.”

“The report approved on a bipartisan basis says no such thing,” she said. “As a matter of fact, Secretary Clinton is not mentioned a single time in the 58-page bipartisan section of our Benghazi report.”

Feinstein suggested that the linking of Clinton to Benghazi amounts to politics. If Clinton runs for president, it’s expected that Republicans will make Benghazi a major issue, considering the death of an ambassador under her watch.

“I want the record to be clear: I condemn any effort to use this report for political purposes,” Feinstein said.

The Intelligence Committee report says there were ample warnings from the intelligence community about possible attacks in Libya on the anniversary of 9-11 in 2012.